Grievance Debate

Health Review

Mr BELL (Mount Gambier) (15:05): It is clear that Transforming Health is a dud. The people of South Australia think it is a dud, the veterans think it is a dud, even the doctors now think it is a dud. Even Mark Butler, the federal Labor president and best man to the Premier, thinks it is a dud; in fact, the entire state thinks it is a dud. The only people who do not think it is a dud are the health minister and the people of the Labor state government.

It reminds me of a scene from Back to the Future—'McFly! Anyone there?'—because this has gone far enough. A survey of doctors today revealed that a majority is opposed to the Transforming Health reforms: better care, 61 per cent disagreed; safety measures, 70 per cent disagreed; best care every time, 71 per cent disagreed; effective consultation—and this is the point that the government needs to take seriously—79 per cent disagreed or strongly disagreed that the state government had conducted effective stakeholder consultation. Almost 90 per cent of respondents said they did not feel they had an ability to influence the outcomes of Transforming Health reforms.

It has reached the point where extraordinary steps are now being taken by SASMOA and the AMA, who are sending out press releases saying that doctors are concerned that they have not been listened to and that they are concerned and afraid for the future, for their patients and the communities they serve. They are telling SASMOA that consultation has been inadequate, in some cases insincere—and this is a quote—and in some places 'completely absent'. There is significant concern that the government is quite simply trying to do too much, too soon in tackling this major reform.

I thought that here we might step back and have a look at how much they are trying to take on and where they are going. The new Royal Adelaide Hospital: a $640 million blowout in the cost of that hospital as well as time blowouts. In my reading, I just could not believe the new spin. This is from the CFMEU state secretary, Aaron Cartledge, and I quote:

Realistically, the hospital is not late, it was the schedule which was early.

Oh, my God, that is the best bit of spin I have seen! You might need to hire him personally, minister, because that is absolutely fantastic. What you should have done was get back Rod Hook. You should have brought him back. When Judith Carr resigned, get Rod back. After he was sacked—and I endeavour to say that this might haunt some Labor people—Rod said something like, 'The people vote for competency of governments, which is more than just politicians.' Maybe those words will come back to haunt the Labor government, because the new Royal Adelaide Hospital has been a disaster and shows the competency—or lack thereof—of this government.

In fact, the press release today from SASMOA and the AMA said, 'Stop, think and reassess.' It is a plea from the professionals who are meant to benefit from this: stop, think, reassess. Of course, it is not just the doctors or the veterans who are saying that: it is also the federal member, Mark Butler. It is quite extraordinary to have the president of a major political party writing to his own party pointing out that the policies are dangerous and are something that needs to be put on hold.

From that, I would like to stress that the Liberals want to support our health system, but we do not want to see a downgrade to the emergency department at Noarlunga Hospital, or the emergency department at The QEH or Modbury Hospital, or the closure of Daw Park, the closure of Hampstead or the closure of the rehabilitation hospital at Semaphore.